The week in wildlife – in pictures

The week in wildlife – in pictures

Spring is in the air, a fine scent it throws as blossoms colour the cherry trees. In the jungles, the mighty lions bask in crisp sunlight, leopards are out scouting and sharp kingfishers stab the snakes, while on silky lakes the majestic black swans dote on their young

A wood ant (Formica
rufa) carrying another wood ant. These fascinating pictures show British wood ants getting busy after waking from hibernation. Wildlife photographer Dominic Greves captured the macro images at Arne, Dorset. He says: ‘An ant returning with a twig larger than its own body to repair nest after a badger raid. On hot days ants 'sunbathe' to absorb heat and then re-enter the nest to release it – keeping it at a steady temperature. Wood ant colonies can contain up to half a million individuals.’ Photograph: Dominic Greves/Rex Features

Protesters take part in a
demonstration against badger culling outside the Houses of Parliament in central London, England. Pilot programmes began last year to cull some 5,000 animals to contain bovine TB. Campaigners say that the pilots have failed on scientific, economic and animal welfare grounds and that they shouldn’t be extended. Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images

A leopard at the South Luangwa national park in Zambia. Wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas camouflaged and remote-controlled BeetleCam camera device to capture tantalisingly intimate images of animals going about their day-to-day lives. Photograph: Will Burrard-Lucas/Barcroft Media

A file photograph of a loggerhead sea turtle hatchling, Caretta
caretta, sheltering among sargassum weed in Sargasso Sea. Bahamas,North Atlantic Ocean. This week the governments of Bermuda, the Azores, Monaco, United Kingdom and the United States signed a declaration in Gland, Switzerland, committing to the conservation of the Sargasso Sea – a vast patch of mid-Atlantic Ocean known for its unique floating seaweeds that harbour rich biodiversity. This is the first time an international alliance has been formed to protect this unique haven of marine life. Photograph: Masa Ushioda/Alamy

A white-throated kingfisher catches a snake at the Keoladeo national park in Bharatpur in Rajasthan, India. The white-throated kingfisher is widely distributed throughout the Indian sub-continent and can be spotted away from water bodies where it feeds on small amphibians, rodents, birds and even reptiles such as snakes. The bird is also found in habitats in the open plains of countryside, and sometimes in the Himalayas, at an altitude of 7,500 feet. Photograph: Devendra Singh/Barcroft India

An unnamed baby goodfellows tree kangaroo, Joey sits in its mothers pouch in Taronga zoo in Sydney, Australia. Joey is the first goodfellows tree kangaroo born in more than 20 years at the zoo. It was born in September but its only now that zookeepers are able to see it as it has started peeking out of its pouch. Photograph: Taronga Zoo/Getty Images

A skeleton of a humpback whale (Megaptera
novaeangliae) lies near the Comandante Ferraz base, in Antarctica. The skeleton was placed in 1972 by French researcher and scientist Jacques Cousteau as a memorial againts the killing of this species in the 20th century. Photograph: Vanderlei Almeida/AFP/Getty Images

A lion resting on a tree is disturbed by a group of Uganda kob underneath. The lions in Ishasha, Queen Elizabeth national park, Uganda are one of only two populations known to climb trees, the other is found the Lake Manyara region of Tanzania. Photograph: Will Rose and Kajsa Sjölander

Indonesian police and the Natural Resource Conservation Agency staff inspect caged slow lorises during a raid on a suspected
illegal wildlife trader in Tangse district in Aceh province. Wildlife officials seized the cadaver of the Asian golden cat that died during captivity, two slow lorises and one binturong cat, all vulnerable and rare animals. Photograph: Chaideer Mahyuddin/AFP/Getty Images

A
horned frog (Ceratophrys
cornuta)
photographed in Guyana, South America. With horns above the eyes and a mouth that is over 1.5 times wider than the entire length of its body, the horned frog is a rather unique looking frog that also has a voracious appetite. Lying in wait under the leaf litter with only its head sticking out, this well camouflaged ambush predator wastes no time pouncing on unsuspecting prey that come within range because if it can fit in the mouth, it s a meal! As with many amphibians from this part of the world, the major threat facing this South American frog is habitat loss. Photograph; Courtesy Andrew Snyder/ASA/IUCN

Tree roots, and other plants growing within them on the Heaton Mersey Common in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The UK government is to announce a biodiversity offsetting policy, will allows building against an equivalent new natural development. Photograph: Jonathan Nicholson/Corbis

In the ongoing dispute over how
California will cope with its drought, an appeals court sided with environmentalists over growers and upheld federal guidelines that limit water diversions in order to protect the California delta smelt, seen above. Photograph: Peter Johnsen/US Fish and Wildlife Service/Reuters

An osprey (Pandion
haliaetus) with its prized catch, near Gordon Macleod's hide in Aviemore, Scotland.
This week, two ospreys fitted with satellite transmitters
started their migration, heading from Senegal to the UK to fly over the Sahara. This is the first time that the Rutland Osprey project is providing the opportunity for schools along the flyways to be involved in osprey migration. The first ever
World Osprey Week will run from 24-28 March
– to encourage schools to use the newly devised osprey lessons plans. Photograph:
Paul Mills/Green shoots/Flickr